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Hailing a Royal Person, or a Russian Page in Schiller’s Writings
The article deals with the fi nal period of F. Schiller’s life when he demonstrated a considerable interest in Russian
history and culture. It was triggered by the fact that in 1804 Charles Frederick, the heir to the grand duke of Saxe-
Weimar-Eisenach, married the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786–1859), a sister to the Russian Emperor Alexander
I. This royal match provided the small German country with a powerful political ally, the Russian Empire.
Schiller wrote a sonorous allegoric play entitled Die Huldigung der Künste to commemorate the young Maria
Pavlovna’s arrival to Weimar. It put forward the author’s hope that Weimar would be a new home for the young royal
bride, and it was most important that she should be welcomed by the seven Arts, she had been so close with back in
Russia: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry, Music, Dancing, and Drama.
This play is called Schiller’s “last will and testament in aesthetics”, as he points out the conditions crucial for
a state to have creativity fl ourishing and outlines an artistic utopia, a realm of beauty, built up by all the arts together.
And it’s true that Maria Pavlovna, within the fi fty years of her stay, contributed considerably into Weimar’s reputation
of the “German Athens”.
history and culture. It was triggered by the fact that in 1804 Charles Frederick, the heir to the grand duke of Saxe-
Weimar-Eisenach, married the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786–1859), a sister to the Russian Emperor Alexander
I. This royal match provided the small German country with a powerful political ally, the Russian Empire.
Schiller wrote a sonorous allegoric play entitled Die Huldigung der Künste to commemorate the young Maria
Pavlovna’s arrival to Weimar. It put forward the author’s hope that Weimar would be a new home for the young royal
bride, and it was most important that she should be welcomed by the seven Arts, she had been so close with back in
Russia: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Poetry, Music, Dancing, and Drama.
This play is called Schiller’s “last will and testament in aesthetics”, as he points out the conditions crucial for
a state to have creativity fl ourishing and outlines an artistic utopia, a realm of beauty, built up by all the arts together.
And it’s true that Maria Pavlovna, within the fi fty years of her stay, contributed considerably into Weimar’s reputation
of the “German Athens”.
Friedrich von Schiller, Maria Pavlovna Romanova, Weimar, Russian-German cultural links, allegoric play Die Huldigung der Künste